Wednesday, January 28, 2015

7 Killer Tips to Survive Night Shift Nursing

Working 12 hour shifts can be difficult on most days. It's even more difficult working those 12 hours at night. Since I'm the low man on the totem pole I know I'll most likely be stuck working night shift again for the first part of my career. I've had a couple clinicals now that were at night. Thankfully my classes at the time were online.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Know Your Drugs: The Pharmacology of Diuretics

This post will cover the four classes of diuretics: loop diuretics, thiazide diuretics, potassium-sparring diuretics, and osmotic diuretics. In each class I'll point out the mechanism of action, therapeutic uses, and adverse effects.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Fast Facts on Hyperkalemia

Potassium is a very important electrolyte. Having too little or too much is a BIG problem. This post is about having too much. I'll discuss the causes, the clinical signs, and the treatments of hyperkalemia.

Friday, January 23, 2015

This week I had a patient who had herniated. I know that neuro is a weak topic for me so I decided to do a post on intracranial pressure.

This post will act as a quick guide to increased intracranial pressure. What is it? What causes it? How do we treat it? I've also included a quick table on assessing rising intracranial pressure (ICP). We'll do a slight case study.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The healthcare industry is full of mnemonics and abbreviations. If you're anything like me you probably have problems remembering all of these "helpful" mnemonics. I think it's harder sometimes to remember the "helpful" saying verses just learning the material to begin with.

However, the order of the 12 cranial nerves is a bit tough to remember. First, let's look at these 12 cranial nerves.

Monday, January 19, 2015

I'm not sure why, but it does seem that some systems are easier to understand than others. I've always struggled with the Renin - Angiotensin - Aldosterone System (RAAS). In this post I'll talk about the pathophysiology and pharmacology associated with this system.

In order to do well on the NCLEX exam you not only need to study content, but you need to think about test taking strategies. These strategies also helped me perform well on my other tests throughout nursing school. Taking tests in nursing school is frustrating because there can be, and often are, more than one correct choice. It's all about choosing the "most" correct choice.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Pharmacology is a tough class guys. Basically, it's like memorizing a dictionary. I have mad props for those pharmacists. This post is about how to study and prepare for your pharmacology tests so you can succeed in that course.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

If this is your first semester in nursing school, CONGRATULATIONS on being accepted. You are about to enter the gates of hell, but it'll be worth it! :) If this isn't your first semester then you probably know how important it is to stay organized if you want to succeed. Here is a quick tutorial on how I organize my notes:

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Welcome to Nurse Nightingale. I am so glad that you've stumbled upon this blog. No, my last name is not Nightingale. I want to stay anonymous for now because I can see how future employers may see blogging as positive or negative. I don't want to jeopardize my career. So if you have any questions you can call me Nightingale, Flo, Florence, hey you blogger lady..... Basically anything.